16081: (Chamberlain) Haitians Repatriated (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   MIAMI, July 5 (AP) -- A U.S. Coast Guard cutter returned more than 450
Haitian migrants to Port-au-Prince Saturday after they were intercepted at
sea on two dangerously overcrowded boats earlier this week, the Coast Guard
said.
   A Coast Guard helicopter spotted 146 migrants on a boat off the Bahamas
on Wednesday, and on Thursday, a 40-foot vessel carrying 319 migrants was
also spotted off the Bahamas. The migrants were taken onto Coast Guard
cutters.
   The Coast Guard determined the migrants' boats were a "hazard to
navigation" and destroyed them.
   "Too many times in the past we have seen vessels sailing in severely
overloaded conditions like these result in unnecessary deaths," said Coast
Guard spokesman Lt. Tony Russell.
   One migrant was taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and turned over to
immigration officials for further questioning.
   It is standard U.S. policy to repatriate migrants picked up at sea,
after brief shipboard interviews by immigration officials.
   Thousands of Haitians each year risk dangerous voyages aboard rickety,
crowded boats in search of economic opportunities in the United States.
Haiti is the hemisphere's poorest country. Two-thirds of its population is
unemployed or underemployed.